A few days later Brendan was finally healthy enough to resume travelling. Taking off the bandages, he got a good look at his arms for the first time since his near-death experience. They were an ugly sight to the young man. Thin, twisted lines of scars marked the length of his arms, mementos from the cruel sandstorm that drove him to the sandstone tower.
Brendan frowned as he stared at them, making a note to buy some long sleeved shirts in Fortree City. He supposed he should be thankful he didn’t suffer any permanent sun-damage in the fiasco. A few scars and a bit of a rasp in his voice were a small price to pay for his life.
He walked out of the tent to find Victor and Ukucha already waiting. Victor grinned at him.
“Lookin’ good, kid. All healed up then?”
Brendan nodded.
“I really can’t thank you enough. I’d be dead without you.”
Victor laughed.
“True enough. But I couldn't just leave a kid out there to die. And you’ve been an interesting visitor. Not that we get many visitors here, interesting or otherwise.”
Brendan grinned at that, then a somber expression took his face.
“I’ll miss you. And Ukucha and Taiowa. I.. No. We’ve learned a lot.”
Victor leaned over to rustle his hair through the beanie.
“Ah, you can’t miss a few old has-beens like us too much. You got your own stories to make, boy.”
Brendan merely nodded, a new determination flaring up in him. It must have shown on his face as Victor chuckled at him.
“That’s the spirit. Now, how ‘bout one last battle before I take ya out to the route again?”
Brendan’s eyes gleamed at the prospect; they’d been beaten down by Ukucha so many times that even the slimmest prospect of revenge seemed sweet. He followed the sandslash and Victor out to the dunes where they’d already battled for days and released his team. They lined up across from Ukucha for one last time and the tension could be cut with a knife.
Before they could begin, however, Taiowa made his presence known with an earth-shattering roar. He dove from the sky above them and landed heavily on the dune in between his team and Ukucha. Tremors shook the ground as the dragon landed, knocking Brendan and most of his team off their feet. He looked up after struggling back to his feet and was met with the ruby-red eyes of Taiowa. The dragon’s gaze trained on him for the first time with anything other than apathy or disdain.
The flygon stared at him almost curiously, though still with the arrogance that could only be found in fully grown dragons. The brood of vibrava flew circles above Taiowa’s head after they caught up, with the one that had battled alongside Brendan’s team flitting over to them.
Brendan noticed Taiowa’s eyes flicker to the vibrava as it flew over to Brendan’s team. The flygon watched it for a moment before turning his eyes back to Brendan and narrowing in fury, culminating in another roar.
At this point, Victor ran up to the side of Taiowa to try and calm the irate dragon. Brendan still had not moved, in fear of upsetting him further. Victor spoke to the dragon low and calmly and he rumbled back to the man. Brendan could see Victor looking between Taiowa, Brendan, and the vibrava. Eventually the flygon calmed a bit and Victor walked over to Brendan.
“Well, I wasn’t really expecting this. Taiowa wants y’all to fight him.”
Brendan blanched at the words, hoping that he had heard incorrectly. Victor just nodded in assurance, though.
“You heard me right. Don’t worry, though. He won’t go anywhere near full force. He just wants to test you a bit.”
That didn’t do much to quell Brendan’s racing heart as he regarded the dragon, who was once again staring at him.
“Why does he want to test me?”
Victor looked awkward at that question.
“Well, I can’t really say. Not without rendering the whole thing moot. You’ll be fine, though. Trust me. You can do it.”
He clapped Brendan on the shoulder and walked away off to the side, out of the way of the battle. Brendan shook himself, and steeled his nerves as he stared right back at Taiowa. The dragon clearly didn’t like that as he roared again. He maintained his gaze as he spoke to his team.
“I won’t make any of you fight, even if he wants to test us. What do you guys want to do?”
Rogue stepped forward to fight immediately, closely followed by Lurantis and Dancer. Glimmer stepped forward after the others; she enjoyed battling as much as any of them. Sentry merely hummed and nodded its bodies at Brendan to signal its support for the idea. Brendan slowly nodded as he watched the flygon who was arrogantly gazing at his team as if it could never fathom danger coming from them.
“Alright. This is beyond anything we’ve done before. Give it everything you’ve got.”
He got a chorus of affirmative responses from his team as they spread out in front of the dragon.
“Ice beam, power gem, solar beam, psybeam, thunderbolt.”
Brendan spat out a string of orders. They’d only get this one chance to inflict any damage before Taiowa decided to cut them down, and he intended to take full advantage. His team launched their strongest ranged moves at the prideful dragon. The brilliant beams of light converged on Taiowa, the combination so bright Brendan had to shade his eyes.
To their dismay Taiowa merely folded his wings in front of him and then spread them out wide again, blowing away the moves like mere smoke on the wind. The dragon didn’t bother to retaliate, still standing there staring at them contemptuously.
Brendan grit his teeth and went through another series of orders.
“Rogue, Dancer flank and pincer. Glimmer, keep up with the beams. Sentry, magnet bomb him. Lurantis, petal blizzard.”
Each of his teammates executed their orders to the letter. Glimmer kept up a constant barrage of power gems. Lurantis summoned a truly astonishing amount of petals and trapped the flygon in a whirlwind of them. Sentry hovered overhead dropping magnet bombs precisely. Rogue and Dancer approached from each flank with strong moves at the ready.
Unfortunately it was around this time that Taiowa decided he’d seen enough. He returned fire to Glimmer with a burst of draconic energy, dragon pulse, that knocked her clean through two dunes before coming to rest. Taiowa then turned his attention to Sentry, slamming his tail into the ground and causing three telescoping spires of rocks to lance out from the ground and hit the magneton’s bodies. Sentry fell to the ground unconscious.
Dancer and Rogue reached the dragon just then, razor shell and force palm outstretched to strike. Taiowa let them land, to no effect, then slapped the both of them with a wing each. They were thrown away, but not unconscious. Taiowa wouldn’t let them recover, though, following up with a stomp that caused two waves of sand to bury the two pokemon.
All of a sudden a bright verdant beam struck the flygon, surprising him a bit. Then another beam. A third beam lanced out towards Taiowa but he blurred out of the way this time.
Brendan stared in awe at Lurantis who had just launched three fully powered solar beams consecutively. The grass type was clearly running on empty now, though, kneeling in the midst of the carnage of the battle.
Taiowa gazed at the kneeling Lurantis and snorted, breathing out a small stream of dragonfire that finished him off. Brendan sighed to himself, thinking that it was over. He saw Taiowa’s eyes narrow in fury, though, and approach the downed Lurantis menacingly.
Brendan started to panic; he looked around for Victor, but the man was nowhere to be found now. Neither was Ukucha. His pokeballs were missing as well. All the while Taiowa lowered his head closer to the unconscious Lurantis.
Before he knew what he was doing, Brendan found himself standing between Lurantis and the flygon. His nerves had been left behind, and he stared firmly into the red eyes of Taiowa.
“I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not going to let you hurt my friends, any of them.”
Taiowa stared at him, and he stared back. A low rumbling growl threatened to make Brendan crumple in fear, but he held his ground.
After a moment that felt like forever Taiowa did back off, sitting back on his hind legs and letting out an approving chuff. Brendan was confused; one moment he was sure that Taiowa would roast him and Lurantis and the next everything was fine? The sound of clapping drew his attention to Victor, who had returned sometime.
“Well done! You passed the ornery lizard’s test.”
Taiowa snorted. Victor just beamed at Brendan, who was still having trouble comprehending what was happening. Victor threw him his pokeballs.
“Sorry, I borrowed those. Don’t hold it against me, part of the test.”
A sudden burst of anger caught Brendan.
“What test?! How was that a test? I thought he was about to kill Lurantis! And why did you have to take my pokeballs? What the hell is going on!?”
Brendan gathered steam as he yelled. Taiowa eyed him curiously. Victor held his hands up in surrender.
“Whoa, whoa hold your rapidash. I’m gettin’ to it.”
Brendan very reluctantly tried to calm down. The vibrava that had been hanging around him blew a gust of wind in his face, startling a laugh out of him. Victor smiled and pointed at that.
“That’s the reason for the test.”
Brendan looked up at him uncomprehendingly.
“The young vibrava there has bonded hard with y’all the past few days. Tore up ole Taiowa a bit. Even if we tried to stop it, it’d probably fly after you when you left. So Taiowa had to test you; he won’t leave his brood to just anyone.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Understanding filled Brendan, and he looked at the vibrava flying circles around him. The dragonling had grown on him, and he’d have been sad to leave it behind. To say nothing of acquiring a dragon for his team.
“Wait, what would’ve happened if I failed?”
Taiowa snorted again, and Victor grimaced.
“Well. Taiowa woulda killed you. But I knew you’d be fine; gathered that much about you over the week.”
Brendan just stared dumbly at the man. Taiowa would have killed him? He had to sit down as the world started to spin. Victor tried to soothe him.
“Hey now, like I said, I knew you’d be fine. But you have to understand, Taiowa is a dragon. No one unworthy can take his brood without stoking his ire, and even I can’t stop him if he’s really riled up. I wouldn’t have even let you near the vibrava if I thought you were the kind to fail his test, though. And you passed beautifully. You held your ground and battled a monstrously superior foe, and showed your willingness to protect your team, even above your own life. That’s the only kind of thing other than power that a dragon will respect.”
Taiowa snorted again, though this time with noticeably less disdain. He lowered his head towards the seated Brendan, and met his eyes again. The dragon must have somewhat approved of whatever he saw, because he nodded and then nudged the vibrava toward Brendan.
Brendan was still reeling from the events, but knew this was an important time. He looked at the hovering vibrava and spoke.
“You’ve already met my team. We’re gonna be one of the best. Sure you wanna throw your lot in with us, though?”
It buzzed happily and blew another gust of wind in his face. Brendan smiled genuinely as he pressed a spare pokeball against the vibrava. It was sucked inside and dinged a complete capture. His pokedex brought up the profile for vibrava after it was caught.
Vibrava, the vibration pokemon. Vibrava can create ultrasonic waves with its double set of wings. Those waves can cause headaches in humans.
It knows the moves: Dragon Breath, Bulldoze, Dig, Bite, Mud-Slap, Sand Tomb, Dragon Tail, Screech, Bug Buzz, Sandstorm, Gust, Air Cutter, Sonic Boom, and Supersonic. Its ability is Sand Veil, sharply increasing evasion inside a sandstorm.
Victor clapped him on the shoulder and congratulated him. Taiowa stared at the pokeball holding Vibrava, then snorted and took to the skies again. Victor smiled wryly up at the dragon.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just a little attached to his broods, always is. You’ve got a dragon of your own now. Treat it with respect or you’ll find yourself regretting it. But if you do respect it, and bond with it, it’ll never betray you. No better companions than a dragon that acknowledges you.”
He smiled genuinely up at Taiowa, who responded with a low croon that carried through the dunes like the call of a desert spirit. Victor turned to him and handed him a small journal full of notes.
“Just some advice I wrote about raising a vibrava, and flygon. Thought you might end up needing it and I was right.”
Brendan accepted the notes gleefully.
“Now, time to get you outta here.”
Victor released a pokemon of his that Brendan hadn’t seen yet, a claydol. It looked similar to the one used by Mr. Stone’s son when Brendan saw him in the caves underneath Dewford, only much older. Its hide had been bleached bone-white by the sun, and its black markings stood out much more because of it. It didn’t make an audible noise, but he felt a wave of emotion from it that evoked the feeling of home-safety-family-warmth. It was comforting, and he found himself smiling at the pokemon.
“Kachina, here will teleport you to the Badlands, closer to the Fortree side. It shouldn’t take you more than a week to make it outta the desert. This is it, save your goodbyes, I’m sure I’ll see you again next time you get lost in the desert.”
Brendan weakly smiled at the joke, his experience in the Heart still too raw to think about. He put it aside and addressed Victor.
“Thanks for everything Victor. I’ll come back eventually and I want a real battle then!”
Victor laughed uproariously.
“Right. Better not come back ‘till you’re a master then. Take care, kid. Give ‘em hell.”
The last thing he saw as he was whisked away was Victor taking a long drag of his signature pipe.
True to the words of Victor, it took barely a week for Brendan and his team to traverse the eastern part of the Badlands and cross the sparkling Jewel River that marked the end of the Great Hoenn Desert. After their days in the Heart, the Badlands seemed like a vacation in comparison, though.
Brendan used this time travelling to incorporate Vibrava into the team. After consulting Victor’s notebook, he’d decided to wait until it evolved to ask it if it wanted a nickname. Since Vibrava wouldn’t develop gender characteristics until evolution, upon which it would change quite a bit, Brendan didn’t want to give it a name it might dislike later.
The little dragon proved quite rambunctious and difficult to control at first. Only after Brendan showed a firm will was he able to bring it in line. Like any growing dragon, it still threw tantrums occasionally, but they were easy enough to handle, and it had thus far been well-behaved in combat.
Whatever training Taiowa had imparted to his brood had been worth it, the Vibrava had a rock-solid foundation, needing very little time to catch up to Brendan’s team. For now Vibrava was mostly a ranged attacker; it wouldn’t develop the raw physicality necessary to excel in close combat until its evolution to flygon. Even so, it was a powerful addition to Brendan’s team.
On the other side of the Jewel River from the desert, the lush jungles of the eastern mainland awaited them. For days Brendan and his team fought their way through the near-constant rain and thick underbrush of the untamed tropical jungles until, finally, they made it back to a recognized route. Brendan looked around for any landmarks and consulted his map, eventually coming to the conclusion they must be near the end of the route running between Mauville and Fortree.
Brendan heard a loud ping from his belt, signalling that his Pokenav had regained service. Then it started to ping continuously for over a minute. Taking it reluctantly from his belt, Brendan apprehensively checked it.
As expected, dozens of messages filled the screen. Brendan decided he couldn’t deal with that right now, and so ignored them in favor of checking his map. According to the Pokenav he was barely a day or two away from Fortree City. Buoyed by the news, Brendan released Rogue and Lurantis to enjoy the rain with him and set off towards the city.
By the time they reached the city late the next day, Brendan was thoroughly fed up with the rain, as unlikely as that might have seemed to him weeks ago in the dryness of the desert. Even Lurantis had gotten sick of the downpour, though Rogue relished in it.
Were it not for the signs, Brendan would scarcely believe they’d entered the city. Fortree City was unique in many ways. Chief among them was the fact that the city was built amongst the trees, each building nestled into the boughs of the giant trees only found in the jungles of eastern Hoenn. Long rope-and-wood bridges extended from tree to tree as the walkways of the tree-borne city.
By some ancient tradition of the natives, the city was overgrown, as if it were just another part of the wild jungles surrounding it. Wild pokemon flitted in and out of the buildings and walkways and the plants did not so much encroach on the city as they did envelop it.
Brendan found himself enraptured by the sight, so different than the metal and industry of nearly every other city he’d seen. It faintly reminded him of his grandfather and Mahogany town, where the locals also lived close to nature. Fortree had taken it to another level, though.
Shaking himself from his wonder, Brendan recalled his pokemon and looked at the Pokemon Center, still easily visible with a large wooden Pokeball carving making it stand out in the jungle city. Tracing a path with his eyes through the maze of walkways, Brendan made his way to the closest ladder up to the high paths.
The inside of the Pokemon Center was familiar; its white, sterile walls a stark contrast to the warm wooden tones outside. Something about the lobby was comforting to Brendan, though. It was a firm proof that he had made it back to civilization, and that he’d survived his ill-fated journey through the desert.
He approached the counter, intent on getting his pokemon checked out by a professional. Victor’s mobile healing station had been a blessing from Ho-oh but it couldn’t replace the real thing. The Nurse Joy on duty smiled gently at him as Brendan approached.
“What can I do for you, dear?”
Brendan deposited his pokeballs on the table.
“I’d like to get my pokemon checked up, and a room please.”
With a cheerful nod the Nurse Joy took his pokemon.
“Of course! I’ll take those, and here’s your key, dear.”
Tired and soaked, Brendan didn’t do much more than mumble a ‘thanks’ as he grabbed the key and stumbled towards his room. Brendan barely remembered stripping out of his soggy clothing before his head hit the bed and he knew no more.
In the morning Brendan picked up his team and sat down in the lobby to finally confront the backlog of messages on his Pokenav. There were quite a few, each subsequent message becoming more and more worried. Wattson, May, Flannery, and even Professor Birch had all messaged him. He winced. It had been quite a while that he’d been out of service. Had everything gone to plan, he should have been in Fortree a couple weeks ago.
Brendan started with Professor Birch’s message, the calmest of the lot. He still hadn’t spoken to the man, even after May told him that the Professor wanted to talk to him. The message was polite, merely inquiring about Brendan’s circumstances. Apparently May had shared with him that Brendan wasn’t answering her messages, so the professor used his League connections to find out that Brendan’s Pokenav had registered him leaving the service area.
Brendan was both grateful that the man cared enough to do that, and also vaguely annoyed at what seemed like interference in his life. Leaving the conflicting emotions to the side, Brendan responded with thanks and vague details on what had happened, promising to call the professor sometime soon.
He moved on to Flannery’s and May’s messages then. May, as he’d expected, had certainly been worried, each message increasingly panicked. He wrote a short message to her with a few more details than he gave her father, then told her not to worry about him, promising the full story next they met.
Flannery’s messages were much easier to answer. They’d struck up a fast friendship via their messages since their gym battle. Brendan found the fire gym-leader easy to talk to and very understanding of him. Both knew what it was like to grow up as the child of a gym leader, though their experiences with that had been very different. She knew nothing about his disappearance in the desert, thankfully, so his message to her was quick.
Finally, Wattson’s messages were not quite as panicked as May’s, but Brendan felt bad about worrying the man, especially as he’d treated Brendan very well. He decided to call him instead of just sending a return message. His call was picked up very quickly despite the early morning.
“Brendan, m’boy, is that you?”
Wattson’s ruddy face peered back at him from the Pokenav’s screen, a hopeful look on his face. Brendan smiled warmly at the sight.
“Yeah, sorry about the worry,” he spoke softly.
Wattson narrowed his eyes at the slight rasp in his voice, then brightened again.
“It’s alright, m’boy. I’m just glad you’re alright. Are you just now getting to Fortree?”
Brendan nodded.
“We arrived last night. It’s been… quite a trek.”
Sensing there was more to the story than just a long journey Wattson urged him on.
“Well, you see, it all started when Lurantis and I spotted a small sandstone tower in the distance-”
It took longer than Brendan had expected to tell the story; he hadn’t really thought through all that had happened until now. He left out some details, such as Victor’s identity. Brendan thought that the man was a hermit for a reason, and respected his want for privacy. Wattson listened quietly throughout, letting Brendan spill out the tale. At the end Brendan felt much better, surprising himself.
“After we were teleported to the Badlands we made our way here, not much to tell about that part.”
His tale at an end, Brendan took a long drink from his canteen, his throat seemingly permanently sore from the sandstorm. Wattson hummed thoughtfully.
“That is a remarkable tale, young Brendan. One that I sorely wish you hadn’t experienced. A pattern concerning you that I find quite vexing.”
Brendan winced.
“Sorry, Wattson.”
Some of the indomitable cheer returned to the man as he laughed aloud.
“Ahaha, don’t apologize, m’boy. What happened to you this time was not your fault. Trainers much more experienced than yourself have fallen prey to ghostly tricks such as this, though they are usually not as potentially lethal. Don’t blame yourself.”
Brendan smiled, thankful for the support. Wattson continued.
“Regardless of my wishes for you to be safer, I am proud of your endurance, and your bond to your team. Many others would have succumbed much earlier than you, rendering any potential rescue moot.”
“Thanks, Wattson.”
“Ohoho anytime, m’boy. Now, what are your plans for Winona’s gym? She won’t take it easy on you. No-nonsense that woman is. You’ll have to give her a shock to earn her respect.”
Brendan gladly moved on to other topics, detailing some of his vague plans for the gym battle ahead of him. After their chat, Brendan sat there for a moment, thinking. He abruptly stood, resolving to put the unpleasantness of the past month behind him and focus on the future. Gathering his things, he exited the Pokemon Center to find somewhere to train his team. They had a badge to earn after all.